


something almost physical, tangible, even (and tea)

by mttraspberrypie



Series: Tales of a Sweet Spider-Son and His Embarrassing Irondad [4]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies)
Genre: Fluff, Peter Parker Needs a Hug, Peter Parker is a Little Shit, Precious Peter Parker, Tony Stark Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony Stark Needs a Hug
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-01
Updated: 2019-07-01
Packaged: 2020-06-02 08:06:15
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,105
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19437343
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mttraspberrypie/pseuds/mttraspberrypie
Summary: Tony Stark is determined to make sure his spider-baby goes to bed- especially since it's a school night.





	something almost physical, tangible, even (and tea)

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! Before you read, I have a big favor to ask of you- please don't spoil Far From Home, especially not in the comments. This prompt was requested by user RebecaThomas- Tony helping Peter sleep, with lots of fluff. This is part two of this prompt, you can check out part one, which is before this as the previous part in this series. Thanks!

It’s late- one A.M, to be precise- when Tony hears muffled footsteps coming from Peter’s room.

Immediately, Tony’s paternal- he might as well embrace it at this point, he’s becoming such a damn dad- instincts flare, and the first thought that comes to mind is that Peter should be asleep, so why is he walking around his room?

Of course, it’s possible that Peter could have snuck out to go on patrol without Tony knowing, except, yeah, it’s actually not. FRIDAY would have alerted him if Peter tried to sneak out so late, and unless Peter hacked FRIDAY without Tony knowing- the kid’s smart, but there’s no way in hell Tony would let this happen- then there should be no reason why he’s up.

So, Tony makes his way to Peter’s room. It’s not like he’s particularly preoccupied at the moment- Pepper’s in Japan, Rhodey’s sleeping- and all he’s been doing is tinkering in the lab, as he always does when he can’t sleep.

The door to Peter’s room is closed. That’s not unusual in itself, because don’t all modern day teens close their doors as a sign of rebellion? 

The footsteps have stopped- can Peter hear him because of his spidey-senses, which, by the way, is an absolutely ridiculous name for Peter’s super senses.

Either way, so as not to disturb Peter if he really is sleeping, Tony softly opens the door just a crack.

Peter is pacing around the room in his pajamas- Tony smirks at the sight of the Hello Kitty pajama bottoms- running his hands through his hair.

The pajama pants aren’t the weird thing though, so to speak. Peter isn’t pacing on his bedroom floor. He’s literally walking up and down the walls and on the ceiling.

As soon as the door opens, Peter tiredly turns around to face Tony from his place on the ceiling.

“Hey, Mr. Stark,” Peter gives Tony a tired looking smile, and even in the darkness, Tony can see the exhaustion on Peter’s face- no, his whole demeanor. His hair is all messed up, and his movements are slow. The weariness is almost tangible, physical, something Tony can catch and throw.

Tony feels his heart metaphorically sink at the sight of this.

“Shouldn’t you be asleep, kid? Counting spidey-sheep in your dreams and all that?” Tony casually leans against the doorway, hoping Peter can’t see the worry practically radiating off of him.

Peter pouts, even through his visible fatigue. “I don’t dream of counting spidey-sheep, Mr. Stark. I dream of cool things. Like Star Wars.”

Tony snorts. “Oh, excuse my transgression, Underoos. The point of the question- that you totally dodged, by the way- is why are you walking the literal length of your room instead of being in your bed dreaming of these very cool things you speak of?”

Peter sighs. “Can’t sleep.”

Tony raises an eyebrow. “Any particular reason why or is all the guesswork up to me?”

Peter doesn’t respond, and instead chooses to unstick himself from the ceiling, and lands on his bed with a little thump, legs crossed.

“Alright, let me check my list of ‘Reasons why a certain spider-baby won’t sleep’. Let’s see… there’s nightmares, being sick, thinking about a certain girl who’s name starts with M and ends with-”

“Mr. Stark!” Peter squeaks, face flushed. “I don’t- don’t think about girls at night! And it’s none of those reasons, by the way. I just physically can’t get my body to sleep.”

Ah. Tony knows that feeling all too well. When, no matter how hard he tries, his body won’t just cooperate and shut down for the night. It’s nothing short of sucky, and while there are remedies Tony uses for that, in the end, he just sort of gave up on going through elaborate processes to go to sleep each night and just gave in to fatigue.

“And you decided to fix it by having a nighttime stroll in your room’s ceiling?” Tony asks. “Don’t teenagers usually just use their phones when they can’t sleep? Heard it helps pass the time.”

Peter groans. “But I need to sleep, Mr. Stark! I have this Spanish exam tomorrow, and I just know if I don’t go to sleep now, I’m going to be totally sleepy tomorrow and then I’ll fail and never pass the class, and never get into college, and never get a stable job-”

“Woah, woah, woah,” Tony walks over to Peter and sits next to him on the bed, “I think you’re getting a bit ahead of yourself, Underoos. Besides, if MIT didn’t take you- you’re totally going there, by the way, no question- I’d sue the pants off of them.”

“Maybe MIT wears a skirt. Or, like, jeggings,” Peter mumbles in his sleepy haze, and Tony smacks a hand against his own forehead.

“Real glad that’s what you took away from that, Pete. Now, do you want to go to sleep or not?”

Peter’s face lights up, just the tiniest bit. “You can help me go to sleep?”

Tony rolls his eyes. “Of course I can, kid.” And with that, Tony gets up from the bed which gives an audible groan- has he put on weight or something?- and walks out of Peter’s room.

It takes him a minute to realize Peter isn’t following him.

“You coming, Pete?” Tony calls, and is met with a stammering apology and Peter running out of his room and down the hall to catch up to him.

***

“FRIDAY, turn on the lights, but make sure they’re dimmed by eighty percent,” Tony says.

“Of course, boss.” FRIDAY complies, and does so. 

They’re in the kitchen, and Peter’s visibly confused.

“Are you, uh, getting me NyQuil or something?” he asks, scratching his head. 

Tony shoots a look at Peter. “Absolutely not. If you think you’re getting me to give you something that’s supposed to be used as cold medicine, then you’ve greatly misjudged how I handle sleepy spider-babies. Besides, you’d burn through it like hell with your metabolism.”

It hits Tony how domestic this is, lecturing his kid on not using certain medicine types inappropriately. Of course, Tony is no stranger to doing this- Rhodey once had to stop him from downing an entire bottle of NyQuil in their college days- but that’s no reason for Peter to start.

Peter crosses his arms. “Okay, yeah, but if you really think about it, Mr. Stark, if I just took the entire bottle-”

Oh god, Peter’s becoming a mini him.

“Yeah, no, not having this discussion.” Tony cuts Peter off. “The answer is no, kid. Now sit down while I make you a sleeping remedy that doesn’t involve drug store medicine that tastes like artificial grape.”

Peter sighs and takes a seat at one of the stools in front of the breakfast bar.

Tony begins by taking out a kettle, some bananas, and a jar of cinnamon. Peter watches from his place at the breakfast bar with a sleepy sort of curiosity, hands propped up against his chin, elbows balancing against the countertop. 

After he fills the kettle with water and sets the water to boil, Tony faces Peter.

“So. You look super tired, but you’re telling me you can’t sleep. Care to elaborate?”

Peter exhales. “Okay. Uh, well, it’s like, I am tired? I really do want to sleep, and my body knows I should because it’s out of energy, but when it comes to the sleeping part, it just… isn’t? I can’t stop thinking and I just can’t make myself actually tired enough to the point where I do sleep. It sucks.”

Tony nods. “Yeah, that’s happened to me too. A lot, actually. This’ll help, though. Guarantee it.”

As Tony starts to peel the bananas, Peter gets up and stands next to him.

“What… is it?”

“It’s tea. My mom taught me how to make this when I was a kid. Knocked me right out.” Tony says, and then places the banana peels into the boiling water.

“Mr. Stark? Are you… supposed to do that?” Peter asks, sounding skeptical as he peers into the kettle.

Tony lightly pulls Peter back from his viewing session- he doesn’t want to risk Peter somehow getting burned, with how clumsy he is- and raises an eyebrow.

“I actually asked my mom that, too- turns out the answer is very much so. All the potassium and magnesium in the peels are natural muscle relaxers.” Tony explains, and the two stand there in silence together as the water boils.

After a few minutes, Tony takes the kettle off the stove carefully. “Get a mug, Pete.”

Peter eagerly- as eager as he can be, in his state- chooses a Star Wars mug shaped like R2-D2, which makes Tony smile, despite himself. He pours the banana water into the mug, and then stirs some cinnamon into it.

Immediately, Peter takes a sip, and instantly recoils.

“Too hot?” Tony smirks at Peter’s expression, as if the tea’s betrayed him.

“Yeah,” Peter nods, and Tony can’t help but laugh.

“Just blow on it. It’ll cool off eventually, Underoos.”

Peter glares at Tony-the glare is a failure, though, seeing as he looks like an angry puppy- and sits down again, mug in hand. “It’s not funny, Mr. Stark.”

“Oh, really?” Tony says, feigning surprise.

“Yeah. You know what was funny, though? That time that seagull pooped on your head when we were at the fair-”

“Absolutely shocking. I can’t believe my own spider-baby would betray me by bringing up my worst memory! I’m disowning you.” Tony ruffles Peter’s hair, and Peter laughs, which is always a nice sound to hear.

It’s quickly becoming Tony’s favorite.

“You can’t disown me, Mr. Stark. You love me too much to do that.” Peter grins, although his voice is just a little shy- how it always is whenever he says something like this, an ask for reassurance that he is loved, worthy of Tony’s affection.

Tony gives Peter a small smile. “Yeah, you’re right about that.” he says, voice soft. “I’ll start loving you a bit less, though, if you don’t drink your tea.”

Peter mock-rolls his eyes and takes another sip, this time without burning his tongue.

“How’s it taste?”

Peter squints his eyes. “It tastes… banana-y.”

“Real great assessment there, Pete. Gold star for you.” Tony snorts, and Peter lightly hits his arm.

“It was a great assessment, Mr. Stark. It really does taste banana-y.” 

“Yeah, probably has nothing to do with the fact that it’s made from bananas.” Tony retorts, biting back a smile.

“Hey!”

***

As they make their way back to Peter’s room- Peter looking calmer, having drained his cup- Tony can’t help but notice he feels a bit more tired, too.

Ah, the joys of parenting.

No, really, Tony is grateful he feels tired. It’s probably a good thing, since without this whole nighttime hang-out session, Tony would probably be on his fifth cup of coffee, still in the lab.

When they reach Peter’s room, Peter tiredly crawls into bed. Tony instinctively tucks him in, the covers having been all bunched up in one corner of the bed. Peter doesn’t protest- he looks so young in this moment, like he’s just a little kid, as he lets out a yawn and closes his eyes.

Tony smiles, feeling a resurgence of pride he always feels when he looks at Peter. Peter’s a good person. A great person.

Tony’s about to step out of the room when he hears a tired sounding voice- Peter, obviously.

“Wait.”

“Yeah, Underoos?” Tony turns around to look at Peter, who’s sitting up.

“Can you maybe…?” Peter trails off and looks at the floor. Tony already knows what Peter’s trying to say- can he sleep next to him?

Tony doesn’t- and won’t ever- mind. No matter what, he’s now realized, he’ll always be there for Peter, to make sure he feels safe and sound. Even if it’s by sleeping with him the night before a Spanish test.

Tony nods. “Sure. Scoot over.”

Peter smiles softly and does so, making room for Tony as he crawls next to Peter. Tony’s grateful Peter let him get a nearly queen-sized bed, at his insistence that Peter doesn’t need a twin bed he’ll just grow out of.

Peter lays his head on Tony’s chest and lets out a small sigh as he closes his eyes. Tony smiles down at the kid- his kid- and cards his hand through Peter’s hair, something he knows Peter enjoys but is too embarrassed to say so.

Within minutes, Peter is asleep, his breathing a steady rhythm, snuggled up next to Tony.

Within minutes, Tony is, too.

**Author's Note:**

> Hey! Once again, please don't spoil FFH. If all goes according to plan, I'll be able to see it July 4th, so I have some time to go before I can see it. Just please don't comment anything spoiler-y- it's not as if this fic pertains to FHH, anyway. Either way, this was really fun to write! The tea mentioned is an actual thing that works- look it up! My tumblr is miactive, if you want to check me out there- feel free to leave prompts there or in the comments. Thanks for reading! :)


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